Gale Encyclopedia Of American Law 3Rd Edition Volume 3 P29 doc

protecting the grantee against all unlawful claims of others, including the grantor and third parties, who might attempt to effect an actual or CONSTRUCTIVE EVICTION of the grantee. The sixth covenant, which is the covenant for further assurances, is not widely used in the United States. It is an agreement by the grantor to perform any further necessary acts within his or her ability to perfect the grantee’s title. The first three covenants of title ordinarily do not run with the land, because they become personal choses in action—rights to initiate a lawsuit—if breached upon delivery of the deed. The others are covenants appurtenant or run with the land and are enforceable by all grantees of the land. In order to recover on the basis of a breach of a covenant of title, financial loss must actually be sustained by the covenantee, since such co venants are contracts of indemnity. In most jurisdictions, the maximum amount of damages recoverable for such a breach is the purchase price of the land plus interest. Purposes Land use planning is often effected through the use of covenants. Covenants facilitate the creation of particular types of neighborhoods as part of a neighb orhood plan. A housing developer might, for example, buy up vacant land to divide into building lots. A low price is paid for the undeveloped land, which the A sample covenant not to sue ILLUSTRATION BY GGS CREATIVE RESOURCES. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF GALE, A PART OF CENGAGE LEARNING. COVENANT NOT TO SUE For good and valuable consideration the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, ___________________________________________ , the undersigned being the holder of an actual, asserted or potential claim against __________________________________ arising from: do hereby covenant that I shall not commence or maintain any suit thereon against said party whether at law or in equity provided nothing in this agreement constitutes a release of this or any other party thereto. This covenant shall be binding upon, and inure to, the benefit of the parties, their successors, assigns and executors, administrators, personal representatives and heirs. ___________________________________________________ Signature ___________________________________________________ Witness STATE OF ) COUNTY OF ) Subscribed and sworn to me by _______________________________ , on this ______ day of _________________________ , 20_____. WITNESS my hand and official seal. ____________________________________________________ My commission expires: Notary Public Covenant Not to Sue GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 268 COVENANT developer subsequently sells burdened with a number of restrictive covenants. The developer might stipulate in the contract of sale that the owner must retain the original size of a lot. Developers can also make owners agree that houses to be constructed upon the lots mu st be larger than a certain size and include other specifications to ensure that such property will more than likely sell for premium prices because of the desirability of the neighborhood. Courts enforce such covenants provided they benefit and burden all the property owners in a neighborhood equally. Covenants will not, however, be enforced if they are intended to accomplish an illegal purpose. The Supreme Court ruled in Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1, 68 S. Ct. 836, 92 L. Ed. 1161 (1948), that no court or state officials have the power under law to take any action toward the enforcement of a racial cove nant. In this case, a group of neighbors were bringing suit to prohibit a property owner from selling his home to blacks, based on the argument that the owner had purchased the home subject to the restrictive covenant not to sell to blacks. The covenant was found to be unenforceable based on equal housing laws. To enforce it would constitute a CIVIL RIGHTS violation. FURTHER READINGS Bell, Cedric D. 2003. Land: The Law of Real Property. London: Old Bailey. Brinig, Margaret F., and Steven Nock. 1999. “Covenant and Contract.” Regent Univ. Law Review 12 (spring). Kraut, Jayson, et al, eds. 1983. American Jurisprudence. Rochester, NY: Lawyers Cooperative. CROSS REFERENCES Chose in Action; Easement; Encumbrance; Estate. COVENANT, ACTION OF One of the old common-law forms of action by which the plaintiff claimed damages for breach of a covenant, that is, a contract under seal. When the common-law system was first developing in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, the king’s courts were little concerned with the personal disputes of private parties. When the royal courts began assuming more authority the procedure for asserting a legal claim became more technical. A dispute would not be heard unless the PLAINTIFF could make out a claim in an established form, or form of action. The courts initially refused to hear cases involving private agreements because parties could not testify in their own cases, and there often was no other way to prove the existence of a contract or its terms. Gradually, judges came to the conclusion that a contract could be proved by introducing a written agreement bearing a seal—an impression in wax or in the paper itself—and by offering evidence that the agreement had been properly delivered to the party who held it. Such a sealed writing was known as a covenant, and it was legally sufficient to give the plaintiff grounds to sue on the rights embodied in it. The action of covenant gained recognition in the thirteenth century and remained impor- tant for centuries, as long as agreements were enforceable only if they were under seal. It was not until the end of the fourteenth century that the law began to recognize as legally enforceable a contract that was supported by consideration but not under seal. In very early times an action of covenant could be used by a tenant who had been wrong- fully ousted from his or her premises before the term of the lease had expired. If it were the landlord who ejected the tenant, the tenant could seek damages as well as recovery of tenancy, but the only remedy against anyone else was money damages. As time went by, the action was not allowed for agreements involving real property. Originally, the action of covenant was intended to force the DEFENDANT to perform his or her part of the bargain. Where that perfor- mance could not be forced and the defendant remained adamant, the plaintiff was entitled to damages in proportion to losses. The COMMON LAW first collected amercements, or fines, from the defendant and later ordered the defendant to pay money damages to the plaintiff as well. In the early twenty-first century, the common- law FORMS OF ACTION have been supplanted in U.S. law by modern rules of CIVIL PROCEDU RE, and the action of covenant no longer exists. Even so, some states have preserved certain legal consequences for contracts under seal. CROSS REFERENCE Assumpsit. COVENANT MARRIAGE A legal union of husband and wife that requires premarital counseling, marital counseling if problems occur, and limited grounds for divorce. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION COVENANT MARRIAGE 269 The declining stability of U.S. marriages has been dramatic. In 2002 the Census Bureau issued a study concluding that almost half of all first marriages will end in divorce. The rise in the divorce rate began in the 1960s and accelerated in the 1970s, after most states enacted no-fault divorce laws, which made it much easier for married couples to dissolve their MARRIAGE contract s. By the 1990s a small but vocal numb er of people argued that it was too easy to divorce. Prior generations of husbands and wives had worked out their problems and preserved their marriages. Cur- rent divorce laws allowed couples to quit a marriage at the first sign of trouble. These concerns led Louisiana, in 1997, to enact the first covenant marriage law in the United States (L.S.A R.S. 9:272 et seq. [1997]). The law created two forms of marriage in the state: the traditional marriage contract, with minimal formalities of formation and dissolu- tion, and a covenant marriage, which imposes heightened requirements for entering and leaving a marriage. Supporters of the covenant marriage law saw it as a way to strengthen marriages and families. Opponents expressed doubts. They were troubled over the creation of a marriage contract that had religious connota- tions—the word covenant is associated in Christianity with a contract between humanity and God. Critics also pointed out that there would be additional costs associated with the additional requirements. The law mandates significant requirements for couples who choose to enter into a covenant marriage: (1) the couple must legally agree to seek marital counseling if problems develop during the marriage; and (2) the couple may only seek a divorce or legal separation for limited reasons. In addition, before obtaining a covenant marriage license, the couple must receive premarital counseling from a clergyman of any religious sect, or a professional marriage counselor. For the premarital counseling to be accepted by the state, the couple must sign a notarized affidavit, which is attested to by the counselor, that (1) the counselor has discussed the serious- ness of a covenant marriage; (2) the commitment to the marriage is one for life; (3) the couple will fulfill the obligation of seeking marital counsel- ing if problems arise in the marriage; and (4) they received an informational pamphlet on the legal requirements of covenant marriage pre- pared by the Louisiana attorney general. The state grants a marriage license when the couple furnishes both the affidavit and a signed declaration of intent to enter into a covenant marriage. In addition, couples who have been married under the traditional marriage contract have the option of converting to a covenant marriage by filing a declaration of intent and participating in marital counseling. Once married, a HUSBAND AND WIFE are expected to commit to a lifetime partnership. However, the law recognizes that some couples will want to separate or divorce. The covenant marriage provisions require a spouse to first obtain counseling and then prove one or more grounds for separation or divorce as listed in the statute. This is the key difference between the two types of marriage: in essence, a spouse has to prove fault by the other spouse. The grounds for legal separation are: ADULTERY by the other spouse; commission of a felony by the other spouse and a sentence of imprisonment at hard labor, or death; abandonment by the other spouse for one year; physical or SEXUAL ABUSE of the spouse or of a child of either spouse; living separately and apart for two years; or habitual intemperance (for example, alcohol or drug abuse), cruel treatment, or severe ill treatment by the other spouse. The reasons for divorce exclude this last ground but include the other four. The enactment of the Louisiana law did not signal a swift change in marriage law prefer- ences. In the first year, only one percent of couples elected covenant marriage; the rate remains less than five percent. Advocates of covenant marriage introduced similar legisla- tion in other states, but the results have not been overwhelming. Arizona passed a covenant marriage law in 1998 (A.R.S. § 25-901 et seq. [1998]), but it is less restrictive in setting grounds for divorce and does not have a two- year waiting period. Arkansas passed its cove- nant marriage law in 2001 (Covenant Marriage Act of 2001, § 9-11-801 et seq.). At least 16 other state legislatures considered covenant marriage laws but failed to enact them. As of 2009, only these three states continue to have statutory covenant marriages. It is too early to tell whether covenant marriage will gain in popularity or whether other states will enact similar measures. In GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 270 COVENANT MARRIAGE addition, it will take many years for researchers to assess the effectiveness of this type of marriage contract and to determine whether it helps couples avoid divorce. The small number of couples who seek covenant marriage may be the very ones who would have succeeded with a traditional marriage, as they have demonstrated a serious commitment to making their mar- riages last. FURTHER READINGS Hager, Susan. 1998. “Nostalgic Attempts to Recapture What Never Was: Louisiana’s Covenant Marriage Act.” Nebraska Law Review 77. Hay, Peter. 2003. “The American Covenant Marriage in the Conflict of Laws.” Louisiana Law Review, October 2003. Leon, Kim. “Covenant Marriage: What Is It and Does it Work?” Missouri Families, available online at http:// missourifamilies.org/features/divorcearticles/divorce- feature23.htm; website home page: http://missouri families.org/ (accessed August 30 2009) Nock, Steven L., and James D. Wright. 2008. Covenant Marriage: The Movement to Reclaim Tradition in America. Piscataway, N.J.: Rutgers Univ. Press. Scott, Elizabeth S. 2000. “Social Norms and the Legal Regulation of Marriage.” Virginia Law Review 86. Spaht, Katherine Shaw. 1998. “Louisiana’s Covenant Marriage: Social Analysis and Legal Implications.” Louisiana Law Review 59. CROSS REFERENCES Common-Law Marriage; Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. COVER The right of a purchaser to buy goods other than those that were originally contracted for as a remedy in the event of a breach of contract by the seller. In contract law concerning sales transac- tions, the UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE provides that a buyer may use cover for protection in an action for breach of a sales contract. The person may, in GOOD FAITH, purchase substitute goods when a seller violates their contract by failure to deliver goods. The buyer may then recover the difference between the original goods or contract price and the cost of cover. COVERAGE The risks that are included in the terms of an insurance contract for protection under the policy; the amount and type of insurance. An insurance policy provides coverage for particular losses, such as THEFT, fire, or acci- dents. The provisions of each individual policy determine the duration, extent, and nature of the coverage. COVERTURE An archaic term that refers to the legal status of a married woman. At COMMON LAW, coverture was the protec- tion and control of a woman by her husband that gave rise to various rights and obligations. Upon MARRIAGE,aHUSBAND AND WIFE were said to have acquired unity of person that resulted in the husband having numerous rights over the property of his wife and in the wife being deprived of her power to enter into contracts or to bring lawsuits as an independent person. These restrictions were abolished by various statutes. During coverture means within the duration of the marriage. v COX, ARCHIBALD Archibald Cox, a former Harvard Law School professor, came to national attention in the 1950s as a federal labor official. From 1961 to 1965 he served as SOLICITOR GENERAL. He is best known for his appointment in 1973 as the Department of Justice’s special prosecutor in charge of investigating President RICHARD M. NIXON during the Watergate scandal. Cox’s tenacious pursuit of Nixon’s secret tape record- ings precipitated a constitutional crisis, led to Cox’s firing, and ultimately set the stage for Nixon’s resignation from office in 1974. Born on May 17, 1912, in Plainfield, New Jersey, Cox was one of six children of Archibald Cox and Francis Bruen Cox. He studied American history and economics before enter- ing Harvard Law School, from which he graduated magna cum laude in 1937. After serving a law clerkship for the celebrated federal appellate judge Learned Hand, Cox entered private practice. In 1946 he became a full professor of law at Harvard. He held various federal positions in the area of LABOR LAW during the 1940s and 1950s, including that of head of the Korean War–era Wage Stabi lization Board following an appointment in 1952 by President HARRY S. TRUMAN. Throughout those decades, he also arbitrated national labor disputes. By the 1960 s Cox had established a reputation as a specialist in labor law. President JOHN F. KENNEDY sought him out as a campaign THROUGH THE CENTURIES , MEN OF LAW HAVE BEEN PERSISTENTLY CONCERNED WITH THE RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES … IN WAYS THAT ENABLE SOCIETY TO ACHIEVE ITS GOALS WITH A MINIMUM OF FORCE AND A MAXIMUM OF REASON . —ARCHIBALD COX GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION COX, ARCHIBALD 271 adviser in the 1960 election. After winning office, the president rewarded Cox by appoint- ing him U.S. solicitor general, the attorney who argues government cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Cox held the post until 1965, and then returned to teaching law. He remained a highly sought-after negotiator and mediator. He was chosen by the New York City school system to help settle a teacher strike in 1967, and by Columbia University to investigate riots on its campus in 1968. He served as a special investigator fo r the Massachusetts state legisla- ture in 1972. For Cox, the pivotal appointment came in May 1973, when attorney general designate ELLIOT RICHARDSON appointed him to investigate President Nixon’s role in the Watergate affair. The scandal had be en simmering since the arrest, in June 1972, of five Republican political operatives for breaking into the Democratic party’s national headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon denied any involvement. But after evidence suggested a connection to White House aides, he promised to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate. When Cox took the appointment, Watergate was chiefly an embarrassment to Nixon; partly through Cox’s efforts, it would become Nixon’s undoing. Since 1971 the president had been surrep- titiously recording conversations in the White House, and Cox believed that the tapes contained key evidence. Cox put pressure on Nixon to release the recordings. Nixon refused, claiming that he had a constitutional right to keep presidential documents confidential. Cox warned that the refusal would precipitate a constitutional crisis. The Senate Select Commit- tee on Presidential Campaign Activities was also conducting an investigation and was then holding public hearings. The two investigations resulted in a lawsuit that sought to force Nixon to release the tapes, and U.S. district court judge John J. Sirica ultimately ordered the president to do so. The president stonewalled. ▼▼ ▼▼ Archibald Cox 1912–2004 1910 1950 1975 2000 1925 ❖ ◆ ◆◆ ◆ ◆◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ 1912 Born, Plainfield, N.J. 1914–18 World War I 1937 Graduated from Harvard Law School 1939–45 World War II 1950–53 Korean War 1961–73 Vietnam War 1941–45 Served as government counsel in Departments of Justice and Labor 1946–61 Taught at Harvard Law School, specializing in labor law 1961–65 Served as solicitor general under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson 2001 Awarded Presidential Citizens Medal 1997 Lobbied Congress in favor of campaign finance reform 1972 Republican political operatives arrested for breaking into the DNC’s Watergate headquarters 1974 President Nixon resigned from office 1973 Appointed special Watergate prosecutor 1976 Returned to teaching at Harvard Law 1984 Became professor emeritus at Harvard; joined Boston U. Law School as visiting professor 1994–2000 Independent Counsel probe of President Clinton cost $70 million, produced no charges 2009 Fourteenth edition of Labor Law: Cases and Materials published 1999 Federal Independent Counsel Act allowed to expire ❖◆ 1948 First edition of Cases on Labor Law published 2004 Died, Brooksville, Maine Archibald Cox. AP IMAGES GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 272 COX, ARCHIBALD By October 1973, Nixon had had enough. He wanted Cox gone. But rather than compro- mise the integrity of the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE by firing the special prosecutor, Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General Wil- liam D. Ruckelshaus resigned. Nixon ultimately found someone who was willing to do the job. He promoted Solicitor General ROBERT H. BORK to acting attorney general, and Bork fired Cox. Cox told the press, “Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men is now for Congress and ultimately the American people to decide.” The public uproar following Cox’s firing— including 3 million messages of protest sent to Congress—further destabilized the president, who was increasingly viewed as covering up his role in Watergate. Resolutions urging impeach- ment were quickly introduced in the House of Representatives. Nine months later, the U.S. Supreme Court in UNITED STATES V. NIXON, 418 U.S. 683, 94 S. Ct. 3090, 41 L. Ed. 2d 1039 (1974), ordered Nixon to surrender materials that he had withheld from the Senate. On August 9, 1974, with impeachment almost certain, he resigned from office. Cox returned to teaching at Harvard in 1976, pronouncing himself satisfied with the outcome of the Watergate affair. He remained at Harvard until 1984 and then served as a visiting professor of law at Boston University from 1984 to 1996. In his later years, he advocated reform of campaign finance laws, delivering several speeches about the ethics of campaign financing in presidential elections. In 2000 he joined a lawsuit against the FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION , claiming that political party-financed advertisements in support of presidential candidates were illegal. The case was eventually dismissed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Wertheimer v. Federal Election Comm’n, 268 F.3d 1070 (D.C. Cir. 2001). Besides writings in the legal and popular press, Cox ’s prodigious output of scholarship includes Cases on Labor Law (1948, 8th edition 1976), Civil Rights, the Constitution, and the Courts (1967), The Role of the Supreme Court in American Government (1976), and The Court and the Constitution (1987). Cox was a member of the American Academy of Ar ts and Sciences and the recipient of eight honorary law degrees from U.S. universities. In 1997 Cox was the subject of a biography entitled Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation by Ken Gormley. The book focuses on Cox’slong and distinguished career as a public servant. In 2001 Cox was honored with the Presidential Citizens Medal for exemplary public service. Cox died on May 29, 2004, in Brooksville, Maine. FURTHER READING Gromley, Ken. 1997. Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation. Reading, Mass.: Perseus Books. CPA An abbrevia tion for certified public accountant. A CPA is a trained accountant who has been examined and licensed by the state. He or she is permitted to perform all the tasks of an ordinary accountant in addition to examining the books and records of various business organizations, such as corporations. CRAFT UNION An association of laborers wherein all the members do the same type of work. In a craft union, the members all perform an occupation, or trade, that relies on the use of the hands. They practice a particular trade and perform their work in different industries for a variety of employers. Carpenters and tool and die makers are types of employees who may belong to a craft union. CROSS REFERENCE Labor Union. v CRANCH, WILLIAM William Cranch served as a federal judge for over five decades, and was also reporter of decisions for the SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES from 1801 to 1815. Cranch was born July 17, 1769, in Wey- mouth, Massachusetts. His father, Richard Cranch, was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature and judge of the court of COMMON PLEAS , and his mother, Mary Cranch, was the sister of Abigail Adams, wife of the future president JOHN ADAMS. Educated privately in his early life, Cranch entered Harvard in 1784 and graduated with honors in 1787. He then studied law in Boston and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1790. He subsequently practiced law briefly, first in Braintree, Massa- chusetts, and then in Haverhill, Massachusetts. IT OFTEN HAPPENS THAT THE PRISONER SEEKS TO PALLIATE HIS CRIME BY THE PLEAS OF INTOXICATION ; AS IF THE VOLUNTARY ABANDONMENT OF REASON … WERE NOT , OF ITSELF, AN OFFENSE SUFFICIENT TO MAKE HIM RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ITS CONSEQUENCES . —WILLIAM CRANCH GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION CRANCH, WILLIAM 273 In 1791 Cranch moved to Washington, D.C., to become a legal agent for a REAL ESTATE firm that made large and speculative investments in the city based on the municipality’s recent selection to be the nation’s capital. The venture later proved to be financially disastrous, and Cranch was financially ruined as a result of its collapse. In 1800 John Adams, by then president, came to Cranch’s rescue by appointing him a commissioner of public buildings for the District of Columbia. In early 1801 the District of Columbia CIRCUIT COURT was established, and Adams appointed Cranch an assistant judge of the court. Cranch was elevated to chief judge in 1805 and served on the court for 54 years. About the same time Cranch became a judge, the Supreme Court of the United States moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. ALEXANDER J. DALLAS, who had reported some of the Court’s decisions o n an unofficial and fairly informal basis during its terms in Philadelphia, left the position after the Court relocated, and Cranch, while serving on the circuit court, became reporter of the Supreme Court’s decisions in 1802. As reporter, Cranch assembled and p ublished the Court’sdecisions and then sold them to the public and the practicing bar. Cranch was not appointed to the position but took it strictly on his own initiative. Cranch’s first volume of published opinions contained the Court’sdecisionsfrom 1801 to 1804. Before 1804 the Court’sopinions had not been readily available to the practicing bar and were known even less by the general public. In his preface to his first volume, Cranch stated that he hoped the publication of the Court’s decisions would eliminate the “uncer- tainty of the law” while also ensuring its consistency. “Every case decided is a check upon the judge,” he wrote. “He cannot decide a similar case differently, without strong reasons, which, for his own justification, he will wish to make public. The avenues to corruption are thus obstructed, and the sources of litigatio n closed.” Cranch went on to publish nine volumes in all, which contained many of the important CONSTITUTIONAL LAW decisions of the Court when it was headed by Chief Justice JOHN MARSHALL . As was the practice during the early days of the Court, the volumes published by Cranch bear his name on the spine. William Cranch. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. William Cranch 1769–1855 ▼▼ ▼▼ 17501750 18001800 18251825 18501850 18751875 17751775 ❖❖ 1769 Born, Weymouth, Mass. 1775–83 American Revolution 1791 Moved to Washington, D.C., to serve as legal agent for real estate venture 1801 Appointed assistant judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court 1801 John Marshall appointed to U.S. Supreme Court 1805 Began 50-year tenure as chief judge of D.C. Circuit Court 1802–15 Served as reporter of decisions for the U.S. Supreme Court 1812–14 War of 1812 1855 Died, Washington, D.C. 1852–53 Reports of Cases Civil and Criminal in the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia from 1801 to 1841 published 1835 Chief Justice John Marshall died 1846 Mexican War 1861–65 U.S. Civil War ◆ ◆ ◆◆ ◆ ◆ GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 274 CRANCH, WILLIAM In addi tion to his duties as Supreme COURT REPORTER , Cranch enjoyed a distinguished career as a federal circuit court judge. He decided United States v. Bollman & Swartwout, 1 Cranch 379, later upheld on appeal to the Supreme Court (80 S. (4 Cranch) 75 [1807]). Bollman was a TREASON case tried against Dr. Justus E. Bollman, Samuel Swartwout, and AARON BURR, who were accused of conspiring to create a new nation in the western United States. In Bollman, Cranch found that, despite popular opinion to the contrary, the arrest of Aaron Burr’s accom- plices was not justified because of insufficient evidence. Cranch also wrote a number of papers and articles on legal topics, and in 1817 delivered a series of lectures about his uncle, the president, that was later published as Memoir of the Life, Character, and Writings of John Adams (1827). Cranch continued as reporter through the WAR OF 1812. By that time, his own judicial workload as well as the increasing number of opinions issued by the Marshall Court caused him to fall steadily behind schedule, so that opinions often did not appear in print until long after they had first been issued by the Court. Furthermore, though Cranch was credited for providing the text of lawyers’ arguments and introducing summaries of the principal points decided in a case, he was also w idely criticized by members of the bar for his inaccurate and sometimes obscure notes and annotations. Under pressure from some members of the Court, Cranch resigned the reporter’s post, which had not been financially lucrative for him, and was replaced in 1815 by HENRY WHEATON , the Court’s first officially appointed reporter and the first to be paid a yearly salary. Cranch continued to serve as judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court for another 40 years after leaving the Supreme Court. He remained active in publishing, assembling and publishing in 1853 the decisions of his own court in six volumes. He also wrote other scholarly and political works, sometimes pub- lished under pseudonyms, until his death in 1855 at the age of 87. FURTHER READINGS Carne, William F. “Life and Times of William Cranch, Judge of the District of Columbia Circuti Court, 1801–1855.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society 5. White, Edward G. 1991. The Marshall Court and Cultural Change, 1815–1835. Vols. 3 and 4, History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1815–1835. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. Witt, Elder. 1993. The Supreme Court A to Z: A Ready Reference Encyclopedia. Vol. 3 of the Encyclopedia of American Government series. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly. CROSS REFERENCE Legal Publishing. CREDIBILITY Believability. The major legal application of the term credibility relates to the testimony of a witness or party during a trial. Testimony must be both competent and credible if it is to be accepted by the trier of fact as proof of an issue being litigated. The credibili ty of a witness or party is based upon the ability of the jury to trust and believe what he or she says, and relates to the accuracy of his or her testimony as well as to its logic, truthfulness, and sincerity. Personal credibility depends upon the qualities of a person that would lead a jury to believe or disbelieve what the person said. CREDIT A term used i n accounting to describe either an entry on the right-hand side of an account or the process of making such an entry. A credit records the increases in liabilities, owners’ EQUITY, and revenues as well as the decreases in assets and expenses. A sum in taxation that is subtracted from the computed tax, as opposed to a deduction that is ordinarily subtracted from gross income to deter- mine adjusted gross income or taxable income. A claim for a particular sum of money. The ability of an individual or a company to borrow money or procure goods on time, as a result of a positive opinion by the particular lender concerning such borrower’s solvency and reliability. The right granted by a creditor to a debtor to delay satisfaction of a debt, or to incur a debt and defer the payment thereof. CONSUMER CREDIT consists of short-term loans made to people so that they can purchase consumer goods and services for personal or household purposes. The term credit has various applications to transactions that involve borrowing. Credit can be used in reference to the ability to postpone payment, as in the case of an individual who has credit with a local store that allows purchase of items on a weekly basis and settlement of GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION CREDIT 275 A sample plain- language credit cardholder agreement. This Agreement covers your credit card account with us, Erie Shores Credit Union, Inc The person (“Account Holder” or “You”) whose name is embossed on the face of the Visa credit card (“Card”) provided to Account Holder and issued by us and each Account Holder, by signing or using the Card, agrees with Issuer to the following terms: 1. Your Account. If you have a joint account, each Account Holder has the right to use the account up to the extended credit limit as described below. Each Account Holder is bound by these terms and each, individually, will be liable for all charges, even if only one of you uses the account. For joint accounts, each individual separately, and both individuals together, are referred to in this Agreement as “You”. 2. Credit Card Account Services. These services are available through your Card account, up to the amount of your credit limit. a. Credit Purchases. You can use your account to purchase goods and services wherever Visa credit cards are accepted (referred to in this Agreement as “Credit Purchases”). b. Cash Advances. You can get a Cash Advance (referred to in this Agreement as a “Cash Advance”) from your account by presenting your Card at a financial institution that accepts Visa. You can also use your Card to obtain up to $1005 per day in cash from any authorized Erie Shores Credit Union, Inc. Automated Teller Machine (“ATM”). You may not obtain a Cash Advance if your account is delinquent, closed or the amount of the advance would cause your balance to go over your credit limit. 3. Your promise to pay. 3.1 You promise to pay us, when due, the total of all Credit Purchases and Cash Advances you make on your account. You also promise to pay the total of any Finance Charge and other charges due on the account. You also promise to pay all costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees that we incur in enforcing this Agreement. 3.2 You may pay your entire balance at any time. 4. Additional Card Holders or Others Using Your Account. You may authorize others to use your account. You may add up to 3 additional card holder(s) to your account at no extra charge. Each additional card holder will receive a credit card with his or her individual name embossed. You promise to pay for all Credit Purchases and Cash Advances made by anyone you authorize to use your account, with or without a card, and whether or not you notify us that he or she will be using it. If another person has use of your account and you want to end that person’s privilege, you must recover and return that person’s credit card, if any. If you are unable to recover and return the card, you will continue to be liable for any charges made unless you tell us to cancel all cards and establish a new account for you, which will be done automatically if you notify us of unauthorized use under Paragraph 22 of this Agreement. We may request written verification from you regarding any change or cancellation to your account. 5. U.S. Currency. If you make a purchase or cash advance in foreign currency the transaction will be converted into U.S. Dollars by Visa. For Visa Accounts: To the extent that you have used your Visa card to purchase goods or services, or obtain cash in another country, your statement may reflect the conversion into U.S. dollars of transactions which occurred, initially, in a different currency. The exchange rate applied to such transactions is a (I) wholesale market rate or (ii) government-mandated rate in effect one day prior to the processing date, increased by one percent. 6. Your Credit Limit; Overlimit Fees. Your credit limit is shown on each of your billing statements. You agree not to use your account in any way that will cause your balance to go over your limit. If you do, we may at our option, close your account, and/or exercise any of our other remedies under this Agreement or at law. You must pay the full amount of your balance which is over the credit limit. The fact that we do not ask you for that amount as part of the Minimum Periodic Payment shown on your billing statement does not relieve you of your obligation to pay it immediately. We will charge you a fee each time your balance exceeds your credit limit by $1.00 or more. We will not authorize any new Credit Purchases or Cash Advances if your records show that doing so will cause your balance to go over your limit. If we do authorize any such Credit Purchase or Cash Advance, such authorization will not result in any waiver of our rights under this section. If we increase your credit limit, we will notify you. 7. Law Governing This Agreement. TO THE EXTENT NOT EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THIS AGREEMENT AND YOUR ACCOUNT, AS WELL AS OUR RIGHTS AND DUTIES AND YOUR RIGHTS AND DUTIES REGARDING THIS AGREEMENT AND YOUR ACCOUNT, WILL BE GOVERNED BY AND INTERPRETED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF OHIO, (EXCLUDING THE CONFLICTS LAW OF OHIO AND THE UNITED STATES, REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU MAY RESIDE OR USE YOUR ACCOUNT AT ANY TIME. This choice of law is made because of a strong relationship between this Agreement and your account to Erie Shores Credit Union, Inc., because Issuer is located in Ohio, and to insure uniform procedures and interpretation for all of our customers, no matter where they reside or use their accounts. If any term or provision of this Agreement is found to be unenforceable, this will not make any other terms or provision unenforceable. 8. Limitation on Lawsuits. You agree that any lawsuit based on any cause of action which you may have against us must be filed within one year from the date that it arises or you will be barred from filing a lawsuit. This limitation is intended to include tort, contract, and all other causes of action for which you and we may lawfully contract to set limitations for bringing suit. 9. Honoring Your Card. We will not have any responsibility to you if anyone refuses to honor a Card issued on your account. Any refund, adjustment or credit allowed by a Seller shall not be by cash but rather by a credit advice to us which shall be shown as a credit on your account statement. 10. Security for This Account. If I am in default, I authorize the Credit Union to exercise its right of offset, to use any funds in its possession which are titled in my name or joint name, except funds in an Individual Retirement Account to pay the balance due on this VISA account. If you have other loans or credit extensions from Issuer, or take out other loans or credit extensions with Issuer in the future, collateral securing those loans or credit extensions will also secure your obligations under this Agreement. However, Plain-language Cardholder Agreement Erie Shores Credit Union, Inc. VISA CARDHOLDER AGREEMENT Effective: February 2010 [continued] GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 276 CREDIT unless you expressly agree otherwise, your household goods and dwelling will not secure your obligations under this Agreement even if Issuer has or later acquires a security interest in the household goods or a mortgage on the dwelling. If you have executed a written agreement granting a security interest in any deposit accounts (checking, savings, or share accounts) or other funds held by Issuer to secure your obligations under this credit card plan, such accounts and/or funds are additional security for your obligations to Issuer arising from the use of your Card. 11. Payment Period. You will receive monthly billing statements from us. The New Balance shown on your statement is the total of unpaid obligations, which have been posted to your account as of the statement date. You can either pay the entire New Balance or you can pay in installments, but we must receive at least the Minimum Periodic Payment shown on your billing statement by the payment due date. The Minimum Periodic Payment is figured as follows: Your Minimum Periodic If Your New Balance is: Payment is: $10.00 or less The amount of your New Balance. Over $10.00 2.5% of that portion of the New Balance which does not exceed your credit limit, plus the entire portion of the New Balance in excess of your credit limit, plus any amount past due, or $10.00 whichever is greater. 12. Payment Applications. Payments made to your account will be applied in the following order: Fees and Finance Charges; previously billed purchases; cash advances; and new purchases. We may accept checks marked “Payment in Full” or with words of similar effect without losing any of our rights to collect the full balance of your account. 13. Immediate Repayment of Your Full Balance. You will be in default, and we may, without notifying you, temporarily suspend your credit, close your account, cancel all credit cards issued on it and require immediate payment of your entire balance if any of the following occurs: a. You fail to make a payment when it is due; b. You do not follow the terms of this Agreement in any way; c. You have made any false or misleading statement on the application for your account; d. You fail to pay any other loans you owe us; e. You become insolvent or die; f. There is an attachment, execution or levy against your property or you make an assignment for the benefit of creditors; g. A bankruptcy petition is filed by or against you or your spouse; h. A guardian, conservator, receiver, custodian or trustee is appointed for you; i. You are generally not paying your debts as they become due; or j. There has been a material adverse change in your financial standing. 14. Reevaluation of Credit. We can reinvestigate and reevaluate any information you provided on your credit application at any time, and in the course of doing so, we may ask you for additional information, request credit bureau reports and/or otherwise verify your current credit standing. 15. Periodic FINANCE CHARGE. Your account will be subject to the Monthly Periodic FINANCE CHARGE Rate and corresponding Annual Percentage Rate applicable to the Erie Shores Credit Union, Inc. accounts, set forth in the Initial Disclosure provided to you by us. The Periodic Finance charge on Cash Advances is calculated as follows: A Finance Charge will be imposed on Cash Advances from the date of the Cash Advance, or from the first day of the billing cycle in which the Cash Advance is posted to your account, whichever is later, and will otherwise be calculated in the same manner as explained for Credit Purchases. The Periodic Finance Charge on Credit Purchases is calculated as follows: A Finance Charge will be imposed on Credit Purchases only if you elect not to pay the entire New Balance shown on your monthly statement for the previous billing cycle within 25 days from the closing date of that statement. If you elect not to pay the entire New Balance shown on your previous monthly statement within that 25-day period, a Finance Charge will be imposed on the unpaid average daily balance of such Credit Purchases from the previous statement closing date and on new Credit Purchases from the date of posting to your account during the current billing cycle, and will continue to accrue until the closing date of the billing cycle preceding the date on which the entire New Balance is paid in full or until the date of payment if more than 25 days from the closing date. The Finance Charge for a billing cycle is computed by applying the monthly Periodic Rate to the average daily balance of Credit Purchases, which is determined by dividing the sum of the daily balances during the billing cycle by the number of days in the cycle. Each daily balance of Credit Purchases is determined by adding to the outstanding unpaid balance of Credit Purchases at the beginning of the billing cycle any new Credit Purchases posted to your account, and subtracting any payments as received and credits as posted to your account, but excluding any unpaid Finance Charges. 16. Transaction Finance Charge. The Transaction Finance Charge is a one-time charge made each time a new Cash Advance is posted to your account. The charge for each Cash Advance obtained through any ATM is $2.00. The charge of each Cash Advance obtained through any other source is $2.00. Since Transaction Finance charges are one-time charges that must be included in calculating the Annual Percentage Rate, the actual Annual Percentage Rate shown on your periodic statement may exceed the corresponding Annual Percentage Rate (which is based on Periodic Finance Charge) in any month for which a new Cash Advance is posted to your account. 17. When Finance Charge Begins. The Transaction Finance Charge is assessed on the date the new Cash Advance is posted to your account. The Periodic Finance Charge for Credit Purchases and Cash Advances begins on the dates as described in paragraph 15 of this document. Plain-language Cardholder Agreement [ continued ] A sample plain- language credit cardholder agreement (continued). GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION CREDIT 277 . expire ❖◆ 1948 First edition of Cases on Labor Law published 2004 Died, Brooksville, Maine Archibald Cox. AP IMAGES GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 272 COX, ARCHIBALD By October 19 73, Nixon. WITH A MINIMUM OF FORCE AND A MAXIMUM OF REASON . —ARCHIBALD COX GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION COX, ARCHIBALD 271 adviser in the 1960 election. After winning office, the president. Court of the District of Columbia from 1801 to 1841 published 1 835 Chief Justice John Marshall died 1846 Mexican War 1861–65 U.S. Civil War ◆ ◆ ◆◆ ◆ ◆ GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E